NEWS OF SPRING 



drives, with their glitter of carriages and cars, the Pare 

 Monceau gives an undeniable impression of wealth, happiness 

 and gaiety. 



But let us make no mistake : it owes the best part of its 

 attractions to its very dimensions. Reduce it to half its size 

 and it will at once become paltry, while the suspicion is con- 

 firmed that fluttered through us from the first, namely, that 

 all its surprising charm is rather artificial. It is a strange 

 and unconvincing setting. It takes no account of the build- 

 ings that surround it nor of the style of the tall streets amongst 

 which it opens. For the rest, this is the fault which we most 

 readily forgive it; but it is guilty of an incomparably graver 

 fault in fulfilling but two or three of its duties as a garden. 

 It thinks only of making a vain-glorious display with lawns 

 and walks that are almost bare. Now, in the desert of brick 

 and stone, a garden should be not only a carpet of green velvet, 

 but an oasis of coolness, silence and shade, things above all 

 others dear and indispensable to the inhabitants of towns and 

 obtainable only through the incessant, manifold, leafy intru- 

 sion of big trees. 



7 

 Could not an intermediary type be found be- 



[ lo] 



